Rambus, Dell, Compaq among gainers

CBS.MarketWatch.com

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Investors couldn't get enough of Rambus Tuesday, as its stock skyrocketed 36 percent ahead of strong earnings from Applied Materials. Most hardware shares finished higher.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
SOX, -1.95%
shone as its gained 3.1 percent to close at an all-time high of 954.23. The Goldman Sachs Computer Hardware Index
$gha
tacked on 2.3 percent.

The news of the session centered on Intel
INTC, -0.66%
-- the world's largest chipmaker -- which kicked off its Developer Forum Tuesday. The company demonstrated its 1.5-gigahertz Willamette processor and was also expected to introduce other new products and lend its continued support for Rambus-based technology. See related story.

On the chip-equipment side, Applied Materials
AMAT, -1.58%
said after the closing bell that first-quarter net income, excluding one-time items, was $328 million, or 80 cents a share. That's up from $46 million, or 12 cents, last year. Analysts surveyed by First Call expected the company to post a per-share profit of 77 cents.

The world's largest maker of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment also set a 2-for-1 stock split.

Sales rose to $1.67 billion from $742 million in the year-ago period. Shares closed up 5 7/16 to 166 1/2 in the regular trading session and jumped to 170 in after-hours trading, following the report's release.

The company said new orders -- a sign of future sales growth -- increased 129 percent to $2.36 billion from $1.03 billion last year. See full story.

Alan Lowenstein, co-manager of the John Hancock Global Technology Fund, said that, with Microsoft'sWindows 2000 launch on Thursday, companies may see demand for personal-computer upgrades.

"So a Compaq or Dell, which really haven't done well in this market, should do better," he said.

Dell Computer
dell
Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said in a keynote speech at the Windows 2000 Conference and Expo that the upgraded operating system provides "a leap forward" in reliability. Dell's stock was higher at 37 7/8.

Compaq Chief Executive Officer Michael Capellas was also set to deliver a speech as part of the conference Tuesday evening. Compaq
cpq
shares rose 1 7/8 to 26 9/16.

Hewlett-Packard
hwp
which is slated to release its first-quarter results Wednesday, rose 3 1/4 to 126 1/4. The First Call consensus estimate calls for the technology giant to earn 78 cents a share vs. the 85 cents reported in the year-ago quarter.

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